Farmer's Fridge wants to help more people get nutritious meals on the go. And it just raised a large new round of funding to expand its healthy vending machines to more cities.
Chicago-based Farmer's Fridge announced Wednesday that it has raised a $30 million Series C round led by Innovation Endeavors, a venture firm founded by ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Other investors include Cleveland Avenue, a food-focused VC firm led by former McDonald's CEO Don Thompson; Danone Manifesto Ventures, the investment arm of the yogurt brand; GreatPoint Ventures, DNS Capital, Finistere Ventures, DOM Capital and Chicago's Hyde Park Angels.
The company has raised more than $40 million to date.
Founded in 2013, Farmer's Fridge creates "smart" fridges that are stocked with healthy meals and snacks. The startup's touchscreen vending machines let customers browse items like a smoked cheddar Cobb salad or an almond butter oats bowl, which are prepared daily in the company’s Chicago kitchen. Farmer's Fridge uses a predictive algorithm to plan inventory, ensuring that each location is stocked to optimize demand and minimize waste.
Farmer's Fridge has 186 vending machine locations in Chicago and Milwaukee, predominantly at places like hospitals, universities, airports and office buildings. It plans to use the funding to expand its fridges to more cities.
“Farmer’s Fridge is committed to making restaurant-quality, fresh, healthy food as accessible as a candy bar,” Luke Saunders, founder and CEO of Farmer’s Fridge, said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with visionary companies, including Innovation Endeavors, to grow and scale our business to the point where we can positively impact public health."
Innovation Endeavors has backed several well-known startups, including Uber and SoFi. Schmidt has also backed Civis Analytics, a Chicago-based data science startup.
The funding for Farmer's Fridge is the latest in a handful of large venture rounds Chicago startups have raised this summer. Last month Eric Lefkofsky's cancer fighting startup Tempus raised $110 million, and employee benefits startup PerkSpot landed $50 million.
